Scott 96 - Flyspecking 101

Just putting this post out there to let people know that flyspecking is as much a part of stamp collecting as any other part....My interpretation of flyspecking is as follows summed up in 2 sentences.

FLYSPECKING
1-To see what is there that should not be.
2-To see what is not there that should be.

I took a few strips of 4, Scott 96 "Prince and Princess of Wales" Quebec Tercentenary Issues that were laying in the bottom of one of my boxes...None were taken from filled collection.

These examples below are NOT earth shattering,...99% are just oddities/freaks/errors etc., but you can find interesting possible constant varieties...An example is my find of Scott 56,57 and 58 Newfoundland "Dog Scratch" constant variety...From 123-132 years ago...So there are good finds out there.

RE-ENTRY
Here is the r-entry associated with the one on Ralphs re-entry.com web page..You can see the re-entry with no problem as shown by the picture below.





ODDITY ONE
A doted line running across the stamp between line 3 and 4 at the top of the Scott 96...Good oddity.


ODDITY TWO
Inside frame line on Princess side has dots that look like a possible re-entry "" probably not""..The YELLOW arrows show the oddity and the RED arrows show a normal stamp.


ODDITY THREE
The numeral box on all stamps have 4 bars..3 are equal length and one shown by YELLOW arrows is always shorter.



ODDITY FOUR
Dots outside UL frame of stamp



ODDITY FIVE
There are always 4 scrolls at the top of the stamp...Princess side has a outer border shown in RED and the Prince side the left border shown in YELLOW does not have a border but the right scroll always has a border as shown by the RED arrow.


ODDITY SIX
Now this is a really good oddity...The stamp on the left between line 6 and 7 has a smaller space that the one on the right which is normal.



ODDITY SEVEN
Here is an example of a Ductor Blade flaw..The both pictures are 2 stamps over each other..Broke them up to see it easier.


ODDITY EIGHT
Here is 2 dots appearing inside outer frame line.


There are many, many more..I have just posted a few...Keep your eyes open and maybe you will get lucky and find the next CONSTANT VARIETY..Good luck.

Robert

Nice one Robert. Here is one of the well documented version of the same stamp (it is position 44 on the sheet)

Gilles

That is a great copy of the major re-entry..Now I am going to have to pull out my collection and look for one...My second picture is the minor re-entry.

If I cant find one, you can send me yours..haha

Robert

Hi Robert,

Thank you for the glimpse into one aspect of flyspecking. It's something I've been interested in for a while. I especially like the many examples shown for a single stamp issue.

Dale

Interesting to see some of the many variations on just this one stamp - thanks.

Great... Because of you, on top of learning everything else with the boxes and albums I have inherited, I now want flyspeck them all! Thanks for that... My wife is never going to see me! ;)

Just a note that there are guidelines across the upper part of the stamp design, horizontally across the stamp. This is likely your Oddity One and Four.

Ya, I knew they were guide lines Jimjung...Just wanted new collectors to realize there is a part of collecting that will enhance the hobby..And who knows, they may find a new constant variety like I did.

Robert

Robert: thanks for bringing up the issue of "fly specking," or the search for plate varieties. I've not tried it yet with my Canadian collection. But I did note the article in BNA Topics earlier this year about flyspecking the Xmas 1898 issue.

Flyspecking can get really involved. While not Canada, I have an interest in plate varieties of the 1914-26 Ceres issues of the former Portuguese colonies. Just got a book from a Lisbon stamp dealer describing those varieties; there are 358 different ones.

hi Climber Steve

Flyspecking is fun, but can drive you crazy..now that you mentioned it, I had a chance to have the largest Xmas 1898 issue collection to scan..Darn I turned it down...What a mistake eh..?

Robert